The prince of eco fashion: Sustainable designers Vin and Omi create dresses made with willow from Charles’s Highgrove estate
Supple yet strong, willow is beloved by basket weavers and famously used to make cricket bats.
Now it has found an unexpected use in fashion – thanks to the latest collaboration between Prince Charles and ‘punky’ sustainable designers Vin and Omi.
Amazingly, the sleeveless knitted black dress pictured here was made from willow rods from the prince’s Highgrove residence.
Amazingly, the sleeveless knitted black dress pictured here was made from willow rods from the prince’s Highgrove residence
The gardeners there grow a lot of them, with many used to make plant supports and path edgings. But environmentalist Charles is always looking for ingenious ways to use garden waste, so when it came to the surplus Vin and Omi were called in.
The duo, who go by their first names only, visited Highgrove last autumn to gather some unwanted willow which had already been pruned by the gardeners. The rods were then chipped, pulped and, using the pair’s ‘eco-process’, spun into yarn and woven.
They also made an empire line woven dress from them. To make both dresses took about 100 rods in total. Omi described the willow material as ‘like a heavy satin’.
Environmentalist Charles is always looking for ingenious ways to use garden waste, so when it came to the surplus Vin and Omi were called in
The duo, who go by their first names only, visited Highgrove last autumn to gather some unwanted willow which had already been pruned by the gardeners
Model India Foster wore the dresses at a photoshoot with the Daily Mail this week at the Dorchester Hotel before they featured on the catwalk during Vin and Omi’s show there championing sustainable living at the start of London Fashion Week on Thursday.
Omi also displayed stag beetle pendants and brooches which, in another new project with Charles, they fashioned from broken plastic plant pots from Highgrove.
He told the Mail: ‘We just never dreamed that Vin + Omi would be working with royalty – it’s like chalk and cheese. But the common interest is the environment and sustainability.
‘His Royal Highness is so knowledgeable. We wouldn’t have thought of using the willow if it was not for him suggesting it.’ The prince and the duo forged their alliance four years ago and have turned stinging nettles from Highgrove into wearable fabric.